The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-10-07
FARM, GARDEN & HOME.

wear and tear and swear than poor
tools.
Give verbenas rather rich but light
soil If you wish to have vigorous plants
producing an abundance of large
trusses of flowers.
You will be likely 20 save trouble
by speaking kindly to your horses ev-
cry time you approach them in the
stable or elsewhere.
If you wish to raise good many
fowls you must keep them in separate,
small flocks Large numbers do not
flourish well together.
The market grower is liable to make
q great mistake who overlooks the
neighboring home market trusting to
the large town only.
Lampblack mixed with strong vine
gar will mark sheep so that it will re.
main year, and will not injure the
wool as do tar and paint
This is the time Of the year to feed
sunfiower seeds to the hens, as the
seeds will assist them 10 molt. Feed
the seeds three times a week.
A strawberry patch set out now, the
plants being rooted runners of this
year growth, will give moderate crop
OF fruit next spring-far better than
none at all.
Undertake to cultivate no more than
you can manage well, and increase
your acres as you increase your ability,
and your acres and ability will increase
step by step.
The theory that lima beans will ger
inmate if placed in the ground edge
wise is refuted by Professor Halstead,
who has conducted series of expert
ments in order to determine the claim
He IS of the opinion that the seeds
should be laid fat on their sides.
BY plowing two furrows on each
side of the hedge not only will the
roots be shortened but the loosening
of the soil will benefit the hedge as
well as clean the surface of the ground.
While hedge fence well kept is very
attractive, the harboring of weeds at
its base makes the farm very unsightly.
Race-horses are fed on the clean
blades of cornfodder in some stables,
as it is free from dust. The stalk of
corn is stripped Of its blades by hand,
and the blades are then tied into
small bundle, which is hung on the
stalk to cure. 1t never touches the
ground, aud is consequently free of
dirt.
Feed out the new corn slowly at
first using old corn in preference, so as
to allow the new crop to dry and thor
oughly ripen. New corn sometimes
does injury to stock when fed out too
freely, and the proper mode Is to be-
gin its use gradually. If the old corn
is out give oats with the new corn,
with plenty of chopped hay or straw.
The fence corners are the pest-holes
of the farm. From them spring near
ly all the weed seeds and undesirable
grasses which are scattered over the
fields. Rail fences are expensive on
account of the ground they occupy and
the weeds they protect. If necessary,
the hoe should be brought into requis-
ton to clean out the spaces along the
fence.
It is useless to save seed from large,
first class melons if more varieties than
one are growing on the same location
as no reliability can be placed on such
seed next season. Not only will varie-
ties If watermelons mix, but it is un-
safe to grow them in the nighborhood
of pumpkins. Corn of different varie-
ties will also mix, even when separated
at great distances.
An inquirer asks how to destroy the
Canadian thistle. AS stated pre-, ious-
ly. they must be kept down as fast as
they appear BY preventing growth
of leaves (the lungs Of plants) they
will be smothered. 1t ia persistent
plant, and two or three seasons may be
required to eradicate it, but if the
young shoots are destroyed as soon as
they appear the plant caunot live.
The farmer who will keep flock of
25 or 80 hens with the u,ual accom-
paniment of 100 or more lively chicks,
and will allow them to share his do
main in common with himself, his
other stock and farm utensils, will find
perplexity and most abominable CON-
pany at every tprn. The hen at large,
in her multiplied form, is worse than
any army of locusts, and her following
as offensive as pestilence.
The sweet pepper is neat, upright
growing shrub, with light green leaves,
fine white flowers, and has delightful
fragrance. 1t is native of the New
England States, and has for several
years attracted the attention of bee
keepers as a shrub to furnish bees with
honey at time when flowers are
scarce 1t can be successfully trans
planted, and will grow on all soils from
gravely loan to black peat, as well as
lime or slate soils.
Fowls are machines to produce eggs
and flesh, and we might as weA expect
cloth from factory that has no wool
or cotton as TO expect eggs from hens
not supplied with food. Liberal feed
ing means liberal profits; fowls scant-
lily fed pay scanty profits neglect
means loss of what you do give them.
As rule feed well or kill the flock.
This should be the rule, for the results
are as sure to follow as day is sure to
follow sunrise.
No mill srlnda more regularly, said
the late Ben: Perley Poor, than the
stomach of healthy pig; hence there
must be great regularity in times OF
feeding, and great care that the quau-
tity and quality of feed are suitable.
The practice Of compelling pigs ''to
root little pig, or die, from months
old to the time when they are to be put
up to fatten is not economical. Time
and feed are lost in this practice, and
the risks are increased.
Commencing upon the fact that 10
outbreaks OF swine plague some ami
mails in every herd escape, writer in
the Indian Farmer concludes that
the only intelligent exclamation of some